New Year's Resolutions

I can't believe it's that time of year again!  Christmas is just 9 days away which means the New Year is just around the corner.  It's that time of year to start thinking about New Year's Resolutions.  I'll be honest, I was never big on New Year's Resolutions.  They're actually a pet peeve of mine because by March most people forgot they even set one, and don't even get me started on the overcrowding at the gym during the month of January.  However, this year I've decided to set a New Year's Resolution and I'm posting it here to keep me honest.  

My Resolution: To run 14 races in 2014. 

This year at the Disney Princess Half Marathon I heard an interview with Ali Vincent (from the Biggest Loser) and she spoke about running 13, 13.1 races, in 2013.  I thought was incredibly ambitious and AWESOME!  I really wished I had the time (and money) to meet a goal like that.  So I've decided to complete my own version of this in 2014.  Since I'm fairly new to running (I started about a year and a half now) I'm not being specific about the types of races that will count.  I've already got a pretty good jump on my goal, here's my current list of race registrations for 2014:

February 22: Enchanted 10k in Disney World
February 23: Disney Princess Half-Marathon in Disney World
March 15: KELLY St. Patrick's Day Shamrock 5k in Baltimore, MD
May 10: Warrior Dash in Mechanicsville, MD

Four races on the calendar... 10 more to go!

<3 T

Disney Princess Half-Marathon Take 2!

Well, it's official, I am running the Disney Princess Half-Marathon again in 2014!  Actually, I've decided to take on runDisney's newest challenge, The Glass Slipper Challenge!  What this means is that Saturday (2/22) I will run the inaugural Enchanted 10k AND THEN on Sunday (2/23) I will run the Princess Half-Marathon.  If you math it out (by the way, I like to use "math" as a verb) that is 19.3 miles in one weekend and I will earn not one, not two, but three medals! 

Crossing the finish line at the 2013 Disney Princess Half-Marathon

I'm super excited but super nervous all at the same time.  I've run a 10k and I've run a half-marathon, but never back to back.  This year, we walked around Disney World for an entire day on Saturday before running the half on Sunday; so I keep telling myself that I had to have walked at least 6 miles that day which means this is totally doable, right? right?!?  

There is something just truly special about Disney Princess Weekend.  It's wonderful to be surrounded by thousands of women (approximately 23,000 participated in 2013) who are all supporting each other and cheering one another on.  Plus, you're running in DISNEY WORLD!  One of my Facebook friends commented on my photos from the race telling me I was "the happiest runner he's ever seen".  How can you not help by smile as you run in Disney?  Their slogan "every mile is magic" is definitely true.  I'm sure that 2014 will be even more special with the addition of the Enchanted 10k and the Glass Slipper Challenge.
 
There are two things I am probably most excited about for Princess Weekend 2014.

1.  I'm not only completing the inaugural Enchanted 10k but I will also earn the very first Glass Slipper Challenge.  Ever since I started racing, I've wanted to run an inaugural race.  I don't know what it is, but I always thought it would be really cool to say "I ran the first year of that race".  And then you add on top of that completing the inaugural year of a runDisney challenge!  Full of win!

2. I am traveling to Orlando and spending the weekend in Disney with some pretty amazing people.  I am officially the Queen of Healthy Peer Pressure as I have convince 4 women I work with to head down to Disney for Princess Weekend.  I'll be running the Enchanted 10k with three ladies from the foreign language department at work and I'll be running the Disney Princess Half-Marathon with my department chair.  I am even more excited that my Mama will be completing the Enchanted 10k as well! Mama had a hip replacement July 2012 so I find it incredibly inspiring that she is taking on this race.  This is the first time Mama will join me on a race course and I think that's awesome!  Now if only I could convince my bestie S to run half again with me in 2014... I'll work on her... 

Training doesn't officially start until October but I already can't wait!

<3 T

Road Running vs. Treadmill Running

What is the difference between running on the road and running on the treadmill?  Well... 

Road Running:

Most people that consider themselves "runners" run on the road and would never dream of running on a treadmill (I don't necessarily agree, but more on that later).  The scenery changes as you go, making time seem to go faster. Yes, outside you have to contend with hills but just remember, what goes up must come down.  My absolutely favorite part of running outside is running downhill, I pick up speed and I feel like I'm flying.  Add that to the feeling of accomplishment for getting up that tough hill and you get something I call winning!

Just being outside is a huge benefit of running on the road.  On beautiful days, I can't wait to get outside and run.  The sun shining on you, a nice breeze cooling you off, it doesn't get better than that.  Even running with a light drizzle can be fun.

Also, for me when I run on the road, I zone out and stress melts away, and I don't always get that on a treadmill.  Anything that was bothering me seems to disappear.  Seriously,  I have completed runs before where I was fighting back tears during my warm up and by my cool down my mind was totally clear and I was back to normal. 

Treadmill Running:

Even though running outside is wonderful on nice days, it can be downright terrible if the weather is not right.  Weather that's too hot, too cold, too humid, or pouring  rain can ruin a run.  Problem solved  on a treadmill!  You're indoors in a constant environment and if your gym is awesome like my Planet Fitness is, you have a personal fan on your treadmill to keep you cool.

Being in control on your pace and incline on the treadmill is also a huge bonus.  I like to use my pace settings as a challenge each time I run on the treadmill, I'll say to myself "you ran at a 5.5 pace last time, today start at 5.6".  Even though that may seem like a small increase, over time it adds up and it's helped me increase my pace on the road.  I also vary my incline as I go, it keeps my interested and gives me a much better workout.

One of my favorite features of treadmill running is easily keeping track of your time and distance.  Yes, I know there are apps out there that allow to do this on the road (I personally use Endomondo) but the GPS on the apps can sometimes be glitchy or unreliable.  On the treadmill you don't need to worry about an app because the machine does it for you.

I know, running on treadmill can be boring because you're stuck in one place.  Luckily. pretty much every gym I know has TVs to watch which can lessen the boredom.  Or, you can even stream movies and TV shows through Netflix, HBO Go, or Hulu if you subscribe to those services.  Streaming Doctor Who on my iPhone really keeps me going during long runs on the treadmill.

So, which is better?

Some people swear by road running and run outside no matter the weather while others only run on the treadmill at the gym.  I feel it really is a personal preference and I mix mine up.  In the warmer months, I pretty much only run on the road (unless it's pouring rain or a heat advisory), but in the winter I have to run on the treadmill.  I have exercise induced asthma and the cold is a big trigger for my asthma, so to keep myself... alive... when it's cold I run at the gym.

Which brings me to another question...

How do you transition from the treadmill to the road?

Anyone who has tried to make this transition has come to the realization that running on the road is not the same as running on the treadmill.  It was October when I had to start training for my half-marathon and winter was coming... I knew because of my asthma I was going to have to train on the treadmill.  Race day came, and I was pretty darn terrified (luckily February in Florida weather-wise is like April in Maryland so I didn't have to worry about my asthma as much).  I had run up to 14 miles on the treadmill, but how would that transfer to the road?  

I've tried to transition from treadmill to road before and I could barely do half the distance outside that I had done inside.  However, as I was training my friend who had run a full marathon before gave me the advice of running on an incline on the treadmill to make it more similar to the road.  I started out running at a consistent incline of 1.  Once I got used to that I started increasing and decreasing my incline up to a 3 to try to more closely simulate going up and down hills.  I am proud to report I had absolutely no problem running my 13.1 miles on the road and actually finished with a past faster than what I trained at!  Apparently my incline training plan worked (full disclosure: it did help that Florida is pretty darn flat and I only had a few hills to contend with).

So, here's my 30 minute incline running plan for you to use and try out.  Let me know what you think!

<3 T

Let's talk about BMI

Today was my weigh in day.  I'm currently participating in a "Healthiest Loser" competition at work.  Every week we weigh in and the ones that have lost the largest percentage of their body weight at the end of the competition win money.  Pretty straight forward idea.  Up until my stall out of last week (0 lbs lost), I was actually in second then fell to third place, still not bad.  I decided to sign up for this compeition when I realized I gained 10 lbs during training for my half-marathon, eek!  Granted, I gained 10 lbs of muscle (I have never calculated my body fat percentage, I'm going off of how my clothes fit.  If I gained 10 lbs of fat, my clothes would have been tighter, which is no the case) but still, I wanted to be back at my pre-training weight. And in my dream world, I still have about 12 lbs to lose to hit my goal.  However, my weight loss has been stalled out for a LONG time (read: over a year) and remember, I'm super competitive so I figured this competition would be the perfect way to jump start losing again.

Anyway,  today I weighed in at 147 lbs, which is a total loss of 8 lbs since I started this competition.  Not too shabby!  However, I was shocked when I realized that according to my BMI I am overweight!?!  Huh???  At 5'4" and 147 lbs my BMI comes out to 25.2.  To be considered at a healthy weight your BMI should be between 18.5 and 25.

So in reality, I'm not that far away from being "healthy" but I find it upseting that I'm considered "overweight".  I feel this should be more of a continuum than such a cut and dry chart.  I feel this chart is saying to me "Yes, I know you're only 1.3 lbs away from your target weight range but you're still overweight." 

The other thing that really irks me about BMI is that is doesn't factor in muscle mass.  I have a decent amount of muscle on me, mostly in my legs from running, and muscle is healthy for you!  Muscle burns calories while resting and is more dense than fat (meaning, you may get thinner but still weigh the same, or more, because muscle is more compact).  I am positive that there are people out there who fall into the "healthy" weight range that I am more healthy than.  I work out 5-6 days a week and watch what I eat.  I may be "overweight" BMI but I'm pretty darn healthy!

I think I'm done even looking at my BMI.  It annoys me far too much.  I think I need to start keeping track of my measurements and track progress that way... we'll see.  I'm not really good with keeping up with that (I did that for about 2 months before and then forgot).  Being a scientist I need some empirical data to keep track up.  I know me, I can't be one of those people that tracks progress with how my clothes fit.  Maybe it's time for some research to figure out new ways to measure how "healthy" I am... 

<3 T

Who am I?

So, here's my story...

I am T.  I'm a 26 year old high school science teacher living in Baltimore Maryland.  I have struggled with my weight my entire life.  I know, this is not a new story.  Many many many many people struggle with their weight.  I think almost the entire female population would describe themselves this way, whether it's true or not.  I've done almost everything to get my weight in check.  What I really mean by that is, I've given almost everything the good "college try" for about 6 months before I went right back to my old ways.  Some things, like my 6 month relationship with Weight Watchers, were successful but most things were not.

January of 2010 I looked like this:

I was just under 200 pounds.  Don't let the smiling girl on FDR's lap fool you, I was not happy about my weight.

Fun fact about me: I am SUPER competitive. 

So, when my one of my best friends started to get healthy before a wedding we were both it, my brain said "game on".  Now, I know losing weight and getting healthy is not about who wins or loses.  And in reality if we both lost weight wouldn't we both be winning?  In all honesty I didn't want to go back and look at pictures from that wedding and see how wonderful she looked and think "why didn't I get my act together?"

Now as I mentioned earlier, I've done the Weight Watchers thing and it worked for me (up until the point where I stopped caring about "Points" and ate whatever I wanted).  I toyed with the idea of going back to WW, but I was a poor first year teacher at the point without a lot of disposable income.  So I went back to what I knew would work: calories in calories out.  I did some research, figured out how many calories a day I could eat and still lose weight and I started a food journal (something I learned I needed to do from WW).  I also started exercising because I learned early on in my weight loss journey that you can't have all the delicious food out there if you don't want to sweat a little (or a lot, depending on how much you want that delicious cupcake...)

It took me a while to find an excerise program I enjoyed and could stick with.  Turns out, I love running!  I have been jealous of runners my entire life so one day I just decided to go for it and run.  Now I did not become a runner over night, but that's another story for another blog post.

But here I am ... three years later... and about 50 pounds lighter:

I'd like to point out that this is picture was taken the day before I ran my first half-marathon!  This was something 200 pound me could have never imagined doing.

I'm here to share with you guys my successes and failures.  Everything from meal ideas to workouts.  Disclaimer: I am no expert.  I do not have any special training or degrees, but I have learned what works for me (and what doesn't) and I'm excited to write about it here.

Time to go run!... and then eat some cookies (seriously, I'm having cookies when I get back from my run).

<3 T